When Barack Obama announced that he likes Joseph O'Neill's book Netherland, sales of the title could be seen to make a joyful little hop. But not all celebrity endorsements translate into increased reader numbers - and the books reveal so much about their champions...

Gordon Brown

Sunset Song, by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Picked for its pro-modernisation message and Scottishness, it's also extraordinarily depressing. Sales haven't completely dried up since Gordon went public with admiration, however.

David Cameron

Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves

Chosen for its antagonistic attitude to entrenched opinions on social class and scathing depictions of war. Did Dave know it is also one of the most "spun" books of all time? A second edition lost swathes of the text included in the first.

Sienna Miller

On the Road, by Jack Kerouac

Like Sienna it's stylish, vintage and slightly naughty. It is also notably difficult to make into a good movie.

Madonna

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Based on the time Roberts fled to India. The feeling of persecution that underlies good deeds may be familiar.

Dickie Bird

The retired umpire told an interviewer: "My favourite book is my own autobiography - it became the best-selling sports book in history." Best-selling sports autobiography, reckon some, but what's a few thousand copies between friends?